Minako Aino
Minako Aino is the present-day incarnation of Sailor Venus and is also the civilian identity of Sailor V from the Sailor Moon series. Personality Minako has known to always have an athletic side of herself, for she obtained her powers much earlier than the other Sailor Senshi. In London, she started out as Sailor V, having met Artemis there and he being the one that awakened her powers as Sailor Venus. She was more experienced in fighting since she’d been doing it longer. On top of that, in school, she participated in playing such sports like volleyball, helping her to stay fit and energetic. Plus, it matched her energetic and hyper personality as well. She loves to sing and dance, always having a dream of one day becoming an idol sensation known across the world but she knew that was something that she had to work hard at if she wanted it. Many times, even now, she has put that on the back burner as things have always come up that makes her dream on hold. Normally it was always her duty as a Sailor Senshi as protecting the world and the people that live on it from harm was more important to her. Aside from her love of music, she also enjoys having fun, whether it’s going out to have fun or throwing a party to cheer up her friends, she just loves to have fun. She doesn’t like to see her friends or anyone else sad and upset and she does her best to bring a smile back on their faces, try and get them to be happy again, even if it’s only for a little while. And if that doesn’t work, she tries to give them helpful advice on love and life in hopes that they can have a little bit of an understanding of their situation. It may take people awhile to accept the advice or actually apply it to their lives but to Minako, she sees it in a manner of people can’t say that she didn’t try to help, at least to the best of her ability, if it was possible. This is the serious & mature side of Minako. The lovable side of her is often always silly, boy crazy, loves reading romance novels, playing matchmaker with her friends lives and can be a bit absent-minded at times. But this goes without saying, that she is a bad person, she’s a wonderful person, the best friend a person could have. Like Usagi, she was an underachiever in school, making bad grades over her own. But they weren't as bad as Usagi's. She managed to be able to pull them up and learn to study more often when she should now that she's managed to graduate from high school, even if it cramps her style. As for her family, she does care about them deeply, especially her father and her cousin Mio Aino, but she holds some resentment towards her mother because she yelled all the time when she used to live with them, causing her to move out at a young age. Minako also can be a bit absent-minded at times for she's very forgetful while trying to forget things on purpose to get out of doing something. She also doesn’t like it when people wrong her or her friends and she holds a long grudge towards them for months, even years at a time but she is learning how to forgive people. Slowly, but she is learning. Another thing is her personal life. While she can be boy crazy anytime she sees a hot guy (which in many cases has been often a main distraction in her life), after the last time she had lost someone or didn’t end up with anybody, she decided not to just date anymore, feeling and believing that she was fated to not find love. It’d been stated by one of her former enemy’s years ago that love for her will be hopeless for all eternity and that she would always choose her duty as a Sailor Senshi over it. For the most part, they were right. Minako focuses her attention on important tasks at hand and would rather encourage her friends to find love than to find love for her own self. Let it be known that Minako had felt a bit envious of her friends who's lives had finally started to get better for them and would often feel a bit lonely for companionship. Though deep down, she is very happy for them and is someone that desires to find love herself. Something she doesn't have to worry about anymore now that she has Suzaku but she occasionally has her worries thanks to Usagi making it a point to state who she feels it is inappropriate to date her deceased younger sister's former lover. Although she tries not to let that known fact bother her, sometimes she is unable to help it. Appearance Minako is 5'4'' ''with long blonde hair with a red bow on the back of her head and blue eyes. Her usual attire used to be her Juuban Municipal Academy uniform and for casual clothing outside of school she'd wear such clothes like tank tops, blouses, skirts, shorts, dresses, bathing suits to show off her body, and occasional idol outfits she'd dress up in. For shoes it's flip-flops, high heels, sandals, tennis shoes and every now and then she'll wear boots. Now that she's no longer in high school, she's trying to go for the more sophisticated college student look while still maintaining her liking for what she usually wears. Even Minako's evolved into her final Sailor Senshi form, she still continues to wear the red bow on her hair. She now has wings on her back, which consist of two colors: yellow and orange, with small heart shaped jewels dangling off the ends. She no longer wears a tiara on her forehead for that has be replaced with her planetary Venus symbol, she also wears gloves that are yellow and they go past the forearm. She doesn't wear strapped high heel shoes anymore around her feet. She's completely barefoot and her shoes are replaced with an orange coil that wraps itself around her legs, starting at her feet, moving its way up. The outfit itself is orange and yellow, designed in way that it looks like she's wearing a bikini. History Minako Aino is the trusty Sailor of all time, Sailor Venus, the Senshi of love that drops in to help anyone in need of romance advice. In the beginning of her life, she grew up in America, Las Vegas, Nevada to be exact. Her mother, Kameko Aino was a performer in the Casino, having met the girl's father Yasuo Aino there. He was a Japanese business man that'd made a lot of money which had attracted Kameko to him in the first place but Yasuo loved Kameko for her, wanting to make this woman his wife because he'd fallen in love with her. They dated for a few years, lived together in America for a little while, got married two years later then had their first child together, which was Minako. Yasuo convinced Kameko to move with him to Tokyo, Japan where they could raise their daughter together in a big beautiful house for it was always his dream to not only have a family but to own a big and comfortable home. Kameko was hesitant at first for she knew she'd have to give up her job as an entertainer at the Las Vegas Casino, but since Yasuo still had his job, she figured they would be fine. So they up and moved, taking their bundle of joy daughter with them. It didn't take long for Minako's mother to find a job once they moved, and while her parents worked, Minako was enrolled into school as soon as she was able to walk and talk. Yasuo spent as much time with his daughter as he could but he was often pulled away because of work. Minako's mother was a different story. As a young child, she often watched her mother sing and dance in front of the mirror, picking up the habit herself as she would sing and dance in front of the TV or not that, imitate actions from television shows. Kameko saw a future for her daughter. One as an entertainer, maybe even a famous idol someday. So anytime Yasuo got paid, she'd use that money to enter Minako in talent shows and pageants, parading the girl around. Minako liked to sing, but she liked doing it for fun. However, because corrupted officials accepted bribes to sabotage the company that her father worked for, the company had gone bankrupt and her father went out of job. The original sophisticated rich family had also been downgraded to a borderline family, close to tramping on the streets. Because of the hardships at home, Kameko's mental health began to break down. This worsened even more as she gotten older and she would often use Minako as an emotional punchbag. Eventually Minako got tired of her mother's mental illnesses and physical abuses and moved out of the house to live with her grandparents on her mother's side of the family in London. It was there in London that her double life began, first as Sailor V, then as Sailor Venus. Guardian cat, Artemis was the one that approached her, giving her the items required, allowing her to transform into her other forms. For two years, she constantly moved around from city to city, fighting and defeating youma creates that appeared out of nowhere, stealing the energy from innocent people. Artemis was right there at her side the entire time, helping her and telling her what places needed a Senshi present until it was time. Her duties as Sailor V and Sailor Venus kept her busy and so she'd hide her loneliness behind a cold and sarcastic demeanor to get people off her back. Alan being in love with Katarina seemed to emotionally scare her, before she reluctantly went to Tokyo to join the others. Minako was the second most mature of the Senshi (Ami was the most mature). At first when she met Usagi Tsukino who was Sailor Moon, she always have to cheer up Usagi, crying when Usagi didn't want to do something or couldn't do something. That included when they had to fight against enemies as well. However, Usagi eventually did grow up and the friendship between the two strengthened effectively. The two even found out that they had more in common than they believed. Plot She did not go to Domino City along with the other girls Usagi, Jasmine, Rei, and Ami. Minako decided that they would be able to help Yuugi with whatever is going on down there but said that if they needed anymore help, don’t hesitate to ask and she’ll hop on the next plane there. Now she did not participate in the battle to save both Jasmine and Ami when both of them were evil. However, when she got word that Jasmine is in town she'd decided to visit her, both girls having a lot in common as well, more specifically singing of course. She found out that Jasmine was not only dating but pregnant too, and to show how happy she was for her, she threw a little small party in her and Hideki's favor. Though things took an even greater turn for the worst for the Sailor Senshi has a new enemy by the name of Queen Ria that is after Sakura's power and she can only obtain it after the child is born. But Minako was not going to let that happen. To make matters even more hell, Queen Venus Lolita, one of the Crystal Tokyo Council members stuck her nose in where it didn't belong. Because Usagi and Jasmine wasn't willing to take the throne of the Moon Kingdom or follow in the footsteps of their past lives, she sought out to make their lives and the lives of other Senshi a living hell. Sailor Senshi all over the world started to rebel against the Crystal Tokyo Council Laws, which resulted in the 'Sailor Senshi Rebellion'. A council debate was held for the old members of the current council were stepping down to allow others to take their place. Though Queen Lolita wasn't going to give up her spot without a fight, she still lost anyone. No one was in the mood to hear her talk about doing things the old way from many years ago. Everyone wanted change. Maybe not everyone but the majority of those that attended the Council Debate wanted change. Setsuna Meiou, also Sailor Pluto, the Guardian of Time, was appointed by Queen Serenity as the new head of the Council for she was stepping down as both the council leader and Queen of the Moon. Setsuna gave Minako and the deceased Euphemia Ci Solaris positions to be on the new council. Some new rules have been made, Minako's trying to make a motion to get Queen Lolita removed from her position as being Queen of the Venus Kingdom though that is going to take a while. She doesn't trust Euphemia who stood up in front of everyone stating she wanted to become Queen of the Moon since there were no other heirs so secretly she's trying to find out who this girl is. In the meantime she's still remains her crazy self who loves to give out advice when needed. She wants to see her friends’ happy, if above all anything else. That included Ami as well. Minako did manage to find and meet a guy of her own named Ki Yamamoto who she is absolutely crushing on. He helped her study for the Todai University exam, which was hard but she put a lot of effort into it and believe or not, will be starting this coming fall, her second year at Todai. Though she ended up losing touch with Ki even though there was great attraction there between them but she never got the chance to tell him. Well, that and the simple fact that she was worried that if he'd gotten too close to her anyway, he might end up getting her or not want anything to do with her. And so, she never continued on trying to get back in touch with him. Now then, her dream is to still be a teen idol sensation but for the time being, she's put it on the back burner and she just only sings now for fun and because she wants to. Not because she's obligated to do so. As for the battle against Queen Ria, she was a big help in defeating the evil villainous woman but she wished she could say the same for helping Ami. Once the woman was defeated, Ami was back to her normal self … sort of. She was still acting all depressed and avoiding everybody but it's almost been a year and things are actually starting to look up for her blue haired friend. Minako is happy that she FINALLY found someone to be with that loves her and that ISN'T Seto Kaiba. And she is really glad Usagi's out of her depressive funk and focusing more on her studies in the junior college that she's attending, even though she, Rei, Jasmine and Ami are ahead of her by one year but at least she's doing better and is trying. Originally, she was supposed to be the new ruler of the Venus Kingdom but decided to hand that job to someone else in the kingdom because she loved her life on Earth way too much to give it up and leave it behind. Instead, she has managed to find something on life that she cares about very much and that is a young man by the name of Suzaku Kururugi, Euphemia's former lover. In the beginning, she had started to have feelings for him which she never acted on and found to be inappropriate because he used to be with Euphemia but it was Suzaku's encouraging words that allowed her to come to turns with how she was feeling and was able to find love in him. She still has her doubts and the only person who gives them to her is Usagi who can't seem to let go of the past. Minako does her best to not pay attention to it but at the very least tries to encourage the rest of her friends to find happiness for themselves. She has even retained her position on the Crystal Tokyo Council while also maintaining a normal life on Earth which is easier said than done but Minako has managed to make it work somehow. But at least she doesn't have to worry about bringing a complete stranger into her world and explaining everything to them and her duty as a Senshi. Suzaku is used to such things and has accepted her and her position. Minako finds herself very much in love with him and wishes for a happy future for the both of them. Relationships Alan Minako has had many crushes on many different boys but there were a few that she did truly have deep feelings for. One in particular was a man named Alan. He was a Londoner who Minako fell for when she went to England in the pursuit of a Youma. He didn't realize she was in love with him, and when Minako later introduced him to her friend Katarina, he fell in love with Katarina instead. Minako found out about Katrina and Alan's feelings for one another when she saw them embrace after an explosion they thought had killed Sailor V. Minako left the United Kingdom and returned to Japan allowing Alan to believe she was dead. Upon her return to Japan, she had many more crushes but none of them in particular stuck. It wasn't until she became older and more mature as well as in tune with herself and what she wanted for her life that she began to realize that she was lonely but did not mind seeing her friends being in love and in a relationship. So long as they were happy, she was happy. She admired Jasmine and Ami for overcoming their love obstacles as they were able to find that one person they truly wanted to be with and loved that loved them back. Suzaku Kururugi She was willing to help Suzaku Kururugi forget about his troubles but not forget about the love that he had for Euphemia but in the process of hanging out with him a lot, she'd began to fall in love with him but tried to reject her feelings for him and stay but Suzaku's side as a good friend that he could talk to. Even though he had gotten mad at her for awhile because she told him that Euphemia was destined to die and nothing was done to prevent it no matter how many times she explained that neither she nor Setsuna were allowed to intervene in changing a person's predestined future. For awhile,s he believed him to hate her but made the first move in wanting to apologize to Suzaku. While doing so, she realized that he was not only no longer upset about what she'd told him but he also had feelings for her. Minako didn't want to believe that he was in love with her and thought that he was just using her as a rebound for Euphemia. She admitted to him that she was falling for him but didn't want to overstep her boundaries in their friendship but he assured her that, that would not be the case. They shared a partial intimate moment until Minako stopped him because it was too painful and that she also got scared as well. Codename: Sailor V '''Sailor V' was the first alternate identity of Minako Aino before she awakened as Sailor Venus. She was the only Sailor Senshi that is known to have awakened in this manner. Transformations *''Moon Power, Transform'' - Used her first transformation pen to transform into Sailor V. *''Crescent Moon Power, Transform'' - Used her compact to transform into any disguise she wanted. Attacks *''Crescent Beam'' - She reflected a beam of light from her compact at her enemy and destroyed it. *''Crescent Boomerang'' - Sailor V attacked by throwing her compact at the enemy. *''Venus Power, Love Crescent Shower'' - Sailor V used her compact to make a rain shower pour down and melt her enemy. *''Crescent Super Beam'' - A more powerful version of Crescent Beam, again perfomed with her compact. *''Crescent Slender Beam'' - An attack performed with her compact, which destroyed the enemy. *''Venus Sulfur Smoke'' - Created a pungent sulfurous cloud of smoke that overwhelmed the enemy. *''Ultimate Attack: Diphenhydramine Dispersal'' - Used against Chuu-Chuu. *''Venus Brand: Mosquito Incense Typhoon'' - Used against Chuu-Chuu. *''Venus Ten-Billion Volt Rockin' Rouge'' - Used the Venus Mike to create a sound wave that destroyed her enemy. *''Venus Love Megaton Shower'' - Created a powerful shining light that destroyed the enemy. Physical Attacks *''Sailor V Kick'' - Sailor V kicked her enemy. *''Sailor V Chop'' - Sailor V karate chopped her enemy. *''Rolling Screw Sailor V Punch'' - She punched her enemy. *''V-chan-style Kneading Sailor V Chop'' - Another karate chop. *''Venus Iron Muscle Punch'' - She punched her enemy. *''V-chan's Sword'' - Sailor V struck her enemy with an uchigatana. Costume *Sailor V's fuku had some differences from those of the rest of the Sailor Senshi. Instead of a tiara she wore a red mask, and bore a crescent moon on her forehead. Her choker was white with a crescent moon. Her collar was blue with two red stripes. On top of her shoulder pads was a white armor-like shoulder guard. The center of her bow was orange. The gloves had a smooth orange-yellow band around their top edges. The bow in her hair was red. Instead of a leotard, she wore a midriff shirt (hence baring her stomach), and some red accents were placed along the sides. Her top had short sleeves with a red underside and a white topside that ended in blue cuffs about halfway down her upper arms. Her skirt was blue with a red border, her back waist bow was blue, and her shoes were blue with ankle straps. *Princess Sailor Venus's final evolution fuku has changed from its previous incarnations. In this form, she still continues to wear the red bow on her hair. She now has wings on her back, which consist of two colors: yellow and orange, with small heart shaped jewels dangling off the ends. She no longer wears a tiara on her forehead for that has be replaced with her planetary Venus symbol, she also wears gloves that are yellow and they go past the forearm. She doesn't wear strapped high heel shoes anymore around her feet. She's completely barefoot and her shoes are replaced with an orange coil that wraps itself around her legs, starting at her feet, moving its way up. The outfit itself is orange and yellow, designed in way that it looks like she's wearing a bikini. Sailor Venus Transformations *''Venus Power, Make Up'' - Used her first transformation pen to transform into Sailor Venus. *''Venus Star Power, Make Up'' - Used her Star Power Stick to transform into Sailor Venus. *''Venus Crystal Power, Make Up'' - Used her Crystal Change Rod to transform into the super version of Sailor Venus. *''Princess Venus, Transform'' - Used Orange Gem Broach to transform into Princess Sailor Venus. Attacks *''Crescent Beam'' - Sailor Venus's first attack. She sent a beam of light at the enemy. *''Crescent Beam Shower'' - A stronger version of Crescent Beam. *''Venus Love-Me Chain'' - Sailor Venus sent a whip to hit or grab the enemy. *''Furious Random Crescent Beam Shots'' - An upgraded form of the Crescent Beam Shower and when performed, Sailor Venus sends multiple beams of light that are fired directly at her enemies out of both of her hands, as it is an attack that can strike more than one enemy but multiple ones at the same time. *''Venus Love and Beauty Shock'' - Sailor Venus hurled heart-shaped golden energy at her opponent. *''Venus Crystal Kiss'' - A new gained attack and also an updated version of the Venus Love and Beauty Shock attack. The generation of the attack is performed in the same way but with slight differences. Sailor Venus would hold out both hands and blow a kiss. However, instead of a large golden heart made out of energy appearing, multiple mini hearts are blown towards the enemy, causing them a lot of harm for they explode on impact. If they should fall on anything else, they would just destroy anything it lands on. *''Venus Wave Blast'' - There are two ways that Sailor Venus can perform this new attack. One way is slapping her hands over her hand to send out a large wave or orange energy towards her enemy and the second way of performing this attack is Sailor Venus punching the ground hard with her fist which would send those very same energy waves through the ground and it destroys the part of the around in which her enemy is standing on. Lolita and her daughter Kaoru had this very same attack but it was performed differently by both of them. *''Retractable Wings'' - While the evolution of her powers has gained her transparent like wings with her fuku, they are only useful when Sailor Venus needs to take flight to avoid attacks upon the ground. Therefore, she can retract them at will and call upon them when she needs them. Every evolved Sailor Senshi has this ability with their new found wings. *''Senshi Dust ''- The power in the dust of Sailor Senshi wings is gained when one evolves into their final forms. The power itself takes the form of fairy dust can use to lift any dark power, curse or spell from another person. Other things this can be used for is returning a person's memories that have been lost to them, heal wounds so long as they aren't too severe and only heal certain types of disabilities such as: blindness, being unable to walk, and anything that isn't life threatening. However, not all Sailor Senshi that evolve are permitted to use their Senshi Dust without proper permission and reason. Sailor Venus is not one of these Senshi forbidden to use this power and therefore would be exempt from any sort of punishment. Weapons & Items Orange Gem Broach - This is the new broach that Sailor Venus receives for her to be able to transform into her final evolved Senshi form. An orange heart shaped gem broach that when she shouts the following words, 'Princess Venus Transform!' to transform into 'Princess Sailor Venus'. In this transformation, she'd hold up her new Orange Gem Broach and like her previous transformations, her fingernails would turn bright orange as the gem inside of her broach. Bright orange ribbons would then wrap themselves around her body frame and her feet, making her new uniform outfit appear along with orange coils wrapped around her legs that are connected to her feet. Her arms are then presented in front of her face where bright orange sheer glittery gloves appear on both of them, followed by her blonde hair growing longer as she spirals around in a circle. Lastly, bright orange starts would burst up from the ground and cover Minako's body, her wings being the final thing that appear on her back as she finishes with her final pose. Venus Love Whip - ''An updated version of Sailor Venus's 'Venus Love-Me Chain' and instead of hearts formed into a chain, it is roses now. This enables Sailor Venus to use this chain as both an attack and a weapon. To use it, originally she would have to call out her attack name to summon it, but now that she has evolved, the chain is simply wrapped around her waist anytime she transforms. When called upon, she is able to use it in many ways. One of which is to harm an enemy and restrict their movement, two she can use it as a rope, three she is able to perform two new attacks with it: *''Venus Chain Power Stealer - As she uses her Venus Love Whip to attack, she is not only able to harm others with it or stop their movements but also copy the powers of her enemies and using them as her own. This ability only lasts for the duration of ten minutes before wearing off, however it is a good attack when faced with a stronger enemy. With an ability such as this, Sailor Venus is considered a powerful threat to some. *''Venus Wink Chain Sword'' - As Sailor Venus swings her chain around in a circular motion, it becomes engulfed into bright orange light and takes the form of a sword that when an enemy is struck with it, it drains them of their strength. Sailor Venus can also use this sword on herself to deplete her powers entirely in case someone were to attempt to steal her powers from her. Minako Gallery minakoaino002.jpg sailorvenus001.jpg|Minako as Sailor Venus Minakoaino001.png|Minako in her early 20s Pvenus.jpg|Princess Sailor Venus (final upgrade) Trivia *Her surname is a pun on a phrase meaning "of love", making her name sound like "Minako of Love." *Her sailor-style school uniform during her junior high period was the most classic or orthodox among those of the Sailor Team. Such style reflected the Japanese militarized schooling system of the past, which could be traced back to the Meiji Period. However, it actually originated in Europe, where it was also worn by school boys and was not exclusively for girls as in Japan. *Minako isn't as boy crazy as she used to be and would prefer to see her friends happy with someone that they care about over her own happiness. As such, this is the reason behind her originally trying to reject her feelings for Suzaku Kururugi.